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Fanshawe attacks £500,000 spending on MTV awards

A DIRECTOR of the Edinburgh fringe festival has accused Scottish Enterprise of squandering £500,000 of public money to bring the MTV Europe Music Awards to Scotland.

Simon Fanshawe, the writer and comedian, has said that the money will bring little benefit to the Scottish economy or arts, describing the payment as a “craven genuflection to celebrity”.

The grant — bolstered by an additional £250,000 from EventScotland and the City of Edinburgh council — would be better spent on staging a biennial showcase of Scottish talent during the Edinburgh festival, he said.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Fanshawe said: “Investing £750,000 of public money to bring them to Edinburgh is a craven genuflection to celebrity dressed up as a contribution to the creative economy. Justin, Britney and Beyoncé will strut out of the plane, down the red carpet and back again in less than 24 hours and that’ll be it. MTV is little